The United States has called on Rwanda to stop all support to the M23 rebels a day after Human Rights Watch published new evidence that Rwanda continues to support the rebels in their campaign of terror across the border in eastern Congo.

U.S. President Barack Obama told Rwandan President Paul Kagame on Tuesday to stop all support for the M23 rebels wreaking havoc in eastern Congo. During a phone call, Mr. Obama warned Mr. Kagame that “any support to the rebel group M23 is inconsistent with Rwanda’s desire for stability and peace.”

The M23 rebels say they want to “liberate” DR Congo. They say they will take their fight thousands of miles westward to the capital Kinshasa if necessary. The M23 want to overthrow Kabila? Nonsense. It could be argued that Rwanda and Uganda have never had, and will likely never have, a better friend in power in Kinshasa than Mr. Kabila.

Thousands of women protested against the M23 rebels in Kinshasa on Friday in the biggest demonstration yet in DR Congo’s capital against the rebels’ capture of the eastern Congo city of Goma on Tuesday. Women took the streets to condemn the M23 rebels, and the failure of the Congolese army and United Nations peacekeepers to stop the rebels’ advance.

M23 rebels claimed on Monday they were retreating from the outskirts of the eastern Congo city of Goma to give negotiations a chance after issuing a 24-hour ultimatum to the government. The government did not waste any time to respond. The Congolese government said on Monday it will not negotiate with the M23 rebels.

Rwanda’s two main donors, the United Kingdom and United States, must use their influence to end Kigali’s support of armed groups operating in the Democratic Republic of Congo. They cannot stand by and watch a regime they bankroll orchestrating a new war in Congo, Global Witness says.

Rights groups are increasingly appalled at the support Mr. Kagame has continued to receive from those who claim to be the leading defenders of human rights around the world, while at the same time providing support and cover for a man many consider a dictator involved in war crimes across the border in eastern Congo.

A judge in Spain has issued international arrest warrants for 40 Rwandan soldiers accused of mass killings following the 1994 genocide. The judge said that, after taking power, the army under Mr Kagame carried out mass killings of Hutus in Rwanda and in refugee camps in what was then neighbouring Zaire.